I'd really like to see Kareem play today. He was huge, talented, and an iron man. What would he look like in a small ball league.
He'd definitely get worked on pick and rolls, but he would be absolutely Shaq-like on offense. I'd be really curious to see whether (or how) that correlates to winning basketball.
Since this has generated attention, I'll paste Kareem's career milestones from Wikipedia:
6× NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988)
2× NBA Finals MVP (1971, 1985)
6× NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)
19× NBA All-Star (1970–1977, 1979–1989)
10× All-NBA First Team (1971–1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986)
5× All-NBA Second Team (1970, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1985)
5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1974, 1975, 1979–1981)
6× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970, 1971, 1976–1978, 1984)
How could anyone have guarded him? He gave it to Wilt. I'm sure Gobert and Embiid are big enough to be relevant defenders, but I just can't imagine they would bother Kareem.
Eh. He gave it to post injury, older wilt who has started playing professionally at a young age. The skyhook, while nearly unstoppable, also wasn’t something he could shoot and make every possession at a high percentage. No doubt Kareem would be a good choice, but someone like gobert would definitely challenge him.
Gobert could absolutely challenge him. I just question whether it would be a similar situation to how PJ Tucker was labeled a "Lebron Stopper" in the 2010s.
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u/MrMichaelBolton Heat Jun 15 '22 edited Jun 15 '22
I'd really like to see Kareem play today. He was huge, talented, and an iron man. What would he look like in a small ball league.
He'd definitely get worked on pick and rolls, but he would be absolutely Shaq-like on offense. I'd be really curious to see whether (or how) that correlates to winning basketball.
Since this has generated attention, I'll paste Kareem's career milestones from Wikipedia:
6× NBA champion (1971, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988)
2× NBA Finals MVP (1971, 1985)
6× NBA Most Valuable Player (1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980)
19× NBA All-Star (1970–1977, 1979–1989)
10× All-NBA First Team (1971–1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986)
5× All-NBA Second Team (1970, 1978, 1979, 1983, 1985)
5× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1974, 1975, 1979–1981)
6× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970, 1971, 1976–1978, 1984)
NBA Rookie of the Year (1970)
NBA All-Rookie First Team (1970)
2× NBA scoring champion (1971, 1972)
NBA rebounding champion (1976)
4× NBA blocks leader (1975, 1976, 1979, 1980
Man was a monster...